Manchester City take on Everton in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday and the Toffees will be without six players of their key players.
The Toffees boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that their two first choice goalkeepers will not make it for the match following Jordan Pickford’s abdominal injury while Robin Olsen is also struggling from his own ailment.
Since both keepers have been ruled out, Ancelotti’s hopes now lies on the ands of a 21 year old Joao Virginia.
Everton has also been dealt a heavy blow on the midfield position as Ancelotti has confirmed that former Real Madrid man, James Rodriguez, Abdoulaye Doucoure will also miss the match against Premier League leaders together with long term absentees Fabian Delph and Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
“We have the two goalkeepers out, Olsen and Pickford,” the Italian said in his pre-match press conference. “Also out is Gbamin, but we have good news from him that he will start training with the team next week. James is out, but he will start to train next week. [Abdoulaye] Doucoure and [Fabian] Delph are out.
“I think that after the international break we have time to recover some players, James is one of these, maybe Gbamin. So I think we’ll have only Doucoure out for the end of the season. His recovery is going well, but we have to wait a little bit on him. And, of course, the two goalkeepers will be available. James will be available for the game against Crystal Palace when the Premier League restarts.“
There was some good news for the Merseyside outfit, however, as Yerry Mina is in contention to start after sitting on the bench last week upon his return from injury.
“Mina’s condition is really good, he trained properly today. He’s fit 100%,” the Everton boss added. “I left him on the bench [vs Burnley] because after the injury I didn’t want to take a risk. But tomorrow he will be available to play.”
Credit: Manchester Evening News